GeoChat Feedback Forum

Welcome to the InSTEDD GeoChat official feedback forum. Do you have an idea? Do you recognize a good idea when you see one?
We want to hear from you!
(This is a forum to post suggestions – to ask questions, talk with our team and other users please join us here http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/geochatusers/ Thank you!)

Open Street Maps is an open source community mapping tool. The map quality varies, but in some areas they are very good. It would be nice to have it as option to use OpenStreet maps instead of Google Maps. http://www.openstreetmap.org/

Allow users to download FrontlineSMS (www.frontlineSMS.org) and use it as the mechanism to send/receive messages from geochat (in addition to the standalone gateway that is available for download in the gateways page)

I just heard from someone setting up a farm price information program in Cameroon that he NEEDs geochat to be offline (or would love it) so he can view the map and data offline (like Frontline SMS does).

when posting new coordinates by sms it is not always possible to have the right address. e.g. in case of floodings the name of the street maybe it is not available. As in the new phones - android or iphone - it is possible to have the exact location through gps it could be possible to develop a very simple application that "copies" the lat and long into a new sms.

We are very aware of this, obviously. The first step – in the ongoing release in september- is to finalize the APIs (http and SMS) that will simplify developing these sort of apps.
There is now an open source app for android at smslocation.googlecode.com and one for iPhone at iengage.googlephone.com

> When someone sends a message in from the field without a location, I
> can give it a location (drag on the map) and give it a name if I know
> there is a name associated. Maybe only administrator can do this.
>
> The issue is...it could be easier to assign people on the map then to
> have people in remote areas have to figure out their lat/long if their
> village is not on google earth.

1) Single language translate on web interface
The first idea is to be able to have the messages translated into another language, at least the Google translate languages, so you can work in the field with a team working in a different language (or, if you are like me, you know a language but perhaps not that well). I would be working with women in the Congo who are texting in French, and I would write them in English (translated back to French).

2) Multi-language translate on web interface - so you can communicat with people in many languages.
A more sophisticated option: I am imagining a large international meeting where you want real grassroots participation. There is a discussion and people around the world are asked questions that arise during the discussion over text. Their messages are sent back in and translated into the language of choice on the screen (English, whatever)... All messages are sent back in the preferred langauge of the user. One challenge here is that there will be people who do not speak any of the Google translate languages.

3) Text message translate on phone
A third use case. You have two women's groups near a border area whose int'l languages are different (for instnace, uganda and congo - french and english). the women on one side write in French and the others receive their texts translated into English (and visa versa). They may set a default language for translating.

1) Single language translate on web interface
The first idea is to be able to have the messages translated into another language, at least the Google translate languages, so you can work in the field with a team working in a different language (or, if you are like me, you know a language but perhaps not that well). I would be working with women in the Congo who are texting in French, and I would write them in English (translated back to French).

2) Multi-language translate on web interface - so you can communicat with people in many languages.
A…

Tonight I wanted to form a group with a few friends, and it would be easiest if they got instruction for how to join from their phones in an email - but one that wrote exactly what they needed to do. "You have been invited to join the group SFDOC that is for people in San Francisco to let each other know when they are about to see documentaries for last minute meetups." Send Donna*SFDOC from your phone to the number 44911 to join. I imagine there woudl be a button after you create a gruop saying "send email to others" or it could be an SMS, but one that had exactly what each person needed to do.

Tonight I wanted to form a group with a few friends, and it would be easiest if they got instruction for how to join from their phones in an email - but one that wrote exactly what they needed to do. "You have been invited to join the group SFDOC that is for people in San Francisco to let each other know when they are about to see documentaries for last minute meetups." Send Donna*SFDOC from your phone to the number 44911 to join. I imagine there woudl be a button after you create a gruop saying "send email to…

Allow users to send structured information to the group - either manually following a template or as a means for a program (such as JavaROSA) to submit information. Obviously this information should be exportable in some format such as CSV, XML or synchronized with a database (MySQL, Access, or Excel) owned by the user.

An RSS feed is a very broad way of sending messages to the group. Can we add a way target messages better by specifying a 'radius' for the subscribers? This way users would only get the item alert if they are (for e.g.) within 5 miles of the positions the article refers to.
If the incoming RSS is not a geo-RSS, maybe geochat could try to associate tentative locations using GeoNames as well, but alert the user that the geocoding may not b reliable.

For the longest time I could not figure out why the Map view would not show any messages.

I was stunned when I discovered that the tiny square next to the group name in the "Groups" is actually a checkbox, and that I'm supposed to click it. It looks like a list bullet.

Can you make the UI for this more discoverable (when Groups is collapsed it's impossible to tell what I need to do) and obvious (bigger, more clickable checkbox)? Perhaps instructions in the empty chat area when no groups are selected?